


Young, Just Us

by xama



Category: DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Loss of Parent(s), Meddling Kids, World Without Grown-Ups, the major character death tag is bc of the premise, will update character tags w/ fic, worldwide loss of parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-26 15:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21800620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xama/pseuds/xama
Summary: “...Theoretically, if we were to link our minds via J’onn’s telepathy -- applying our combined imagination to influence Captain Marvel’s ‘dream’ -- we could merge the two separate realities back together. It would just be a matter of believing enough.”“And this would work?”“Either that, or we could inadvertently erase this reality and all of us would suddenly cease to exist.”“He’s joking, right…? Tell me he’s joking!”“He doesn’t joke.”-A World Without Grown-Ups, But Batman Definitely Wasn’t Joking
Relationships: Bart Allen & Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Billy Batson & Mary Bromfield & Freddy Freeman
Comments: 1
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter 1

Superboy flew low over Gotham City's gritty cityscape, looking for tonight’s designated meeting point - the main Wayne Enterprises building, which was apparently hard to miss. Superboy begged to differ - mainly because this was his second trip to Gotham and the first time around he'd kinda gotten mind controlled by that hot plant chick - but he finally found it and saw that it was already occupied. The other costumed teen wasn’t looking in his direction, so he swooped low, careful not to make a sound.

“Superboy.” Robin said, not even bothering to turn around.

“Damn, Rob, how do you do that?” Superboy asked, legitimately startled.

Robin shrugged - at least Superboy assumed it was a shrug, for all he knew Rob could be scratching himself with a Batarang. “Impulse?” Robin asked, still not looking at Superboy.

Superboy shrugged.

After a minute, Robin sighed and turned around. “Impulse?” He asked again.

Superboy shrugged again. “Would’a gone faster if you’d been lookin’ at me in the first place, y’know.”

Robin shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

The rooftop was silent for a while. “Anythin’ new with Bedlam?” Superboy asked, breaking the about-to-be-awkward silence. That’s just the kind of guy Superboy was - cool and considerate. No wonder the ladies loved him.

Robin sighed again, then shook his head. “I… got nothing.”

“Nothing?” Superboy asked, surprised. He recovered quickly though, “I know we’re the good guys, but this is startin’ to get kinda heavy, kids are startin’ to panic, more than before - isn’t it time to break out the Bat-torture techniques?”

Robin just glared at Superboy. Superboy sighed, it seemed like it wasn’t time to break out the Bat-torture techniques. That… wasn’t good, not to say that Superboy thought torture was good, but… Superboy didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, but he was starting to get scared. A few hours, a day, even half a week without adults was manageable. But any longer… no doctors, nobody making food, no parents to look after the younger kids… it wouldn’t be good. They needed to fix this. Superboy didn’t pretend to be the smartest guy around, not that he was saying he was dumb, but he’d acknowledge that Robin had him beat when it came to brains. Not looks, strength, skills, or sheer awesomeness, of-course, but Superboy couldn’t be the best at everything - jack of all trades, master of none after-all. And if Rob, with his intellect and Bat-training and sneakiness couldn’t get Bedlam to fix what happened and bring back the adults…

“I… Superboy.” Robin said, obviously tired. “You know that… we might be it, right?”

Superboy stared at Robin. “‘It’?” He asked, “You don’t mean… it ‘it’, do you Rob?”

“He means ‘it’ as-in ‘it’, right Robin? ‘It’ as-in we’re ‘it’, we’re the ones, we’re ‘that’, we’re ‘them’, we’re-” Impulse was cut off as Superboy reached out his hand and grabbed his shoulder, holding him in place. “Oh, hey Superboy!” Impulse said, grinning at him. “How’s it going?”

Superboy sighed and let go of Impulse’s shoulder. “It’s… not goin’ that well, I gotta say.”

Robin looked up at Superboy, “Did you-”

“Yeah, I went through all the big cities on the East Coast - and Hawaii, ‘cause I live there - and made sure the older kids were gatherin’ up all the little kids. They’ll be okay… for now.” Superboy said, arms crossed.

“Good. Impulse?”

“Right, I went through all of America - then realized I might as well do all of Canada, but I got cold halfway through so I did part of Mexico too - and did what you told me with all the TV antennas I found, made sure they’d all pick up that station.” Impulse said, “Oh, and I spread those fliers you made for me too - I ran out so I printed out some more at a print shop, you don’t think they’ll be mad at me when we bring them back, right, because-”

“Impulse,” Robin said, talking over the speedster, “good. Thank you.”

“Yeah, sure, no prob Rob.” Impulse said, smiling. “How are you doing? Lay any eggs?”

Superboy snorted, and immediately regretted it because Robin glared at him. Eh, it was worth it - plus, Impulse wasn’t even ribbing Robin, in his crazy permanent-sugar-rush brain he probably thought that was a perfectly reasonable question, so he didn’t deserve the glare. Superboy’d take one for the team. He was generous like that.

“I’m doing… adequately.” Robin said, and Superboy had to assume that was a Batman impression. Batman seemed to be the kind of guy who’d say ‘I’m doing… adequately’ when really his life was a total bummer. Then again, everything was a total bummer right now.

“Imp, Rob says he can’t get anythin’ out a’ Bedlam.” Superboy said.

“What, really, not even with” Bart wiggled his fingers, “ninja stuff?”

Robin sighed again - Superboy was starting to worry, was this whole thing weighing on the guy that much? Did he just have a respiratory problem? “Maybe if I got the opportunity to try ‘ninja stuff’ or ‘Bat-torture techniques’, but he’s still catatonic.”

“He’s cata-what?” Impulse asked, “Cat got his tongue? It’s okay, he knows how to write, doesn’t he? Just make him write out how to fix it, guy doesn’t have to speak, and when are we gonna stop those cats, people need tongues-”

“No, genius, catatonic, it means he’s out cold.” Superboy said.

“Then warm him up, don’t you have blankets in Gotham?”

“He’s asleep.” Superboy tried.

“Then wake-”

“He’s unconscious. He’s unresponsive. He’s in a coma. He could be brain-dead for all the good he’s doing us!” Robin spat out. “And we’re no closer to fixing this - bringing everyone back. It’s been three days.”

Superboy, Robin, and even Impulse, miraculously, stilled. Three days.

“I- Rob, do you really think… we’re ‘it’?” Superboy asked.

“We might be.” Robin said grimly, “I don’t want us to be, but if we are then we have to…” Robin turned away from them and clenched his fist. “...take responsibility.”

“Robin.” Superboy said, “I know you’re what an old lady would call ‘a nice, upstanding young man’, but… I’m not really with the whole ‘take responsibility’ bag. And even if I was, you expect Impulse to be responsible?”

“Hey!” Impulse said, indignant. “I am responsible - well, I think I am. Max always says I should be more responsible, but he hasn’t said it to me at all over the past three days, so I have to have gotten more responsible, right?”

“...Impulse.” Robin sighed. “Max Mercury is… where all the other adults are.”

“Yeah, I know.” Impulse said, “Why wouldn’t I know that, we’ve been trying to fix it for three days, and-”

“Forget about it.” Superboy said, shaking his head. “Ok Rob, let’s say we’re ‘it’ - what do we do, what’s our next step?”

Robin turned to face them, crossing his arms. “We contact other heroes.” He said, “The Teen Titans, for one - and independants.”

“‘Independants’?” Impulse asked, “Like-”

“Like us.” Superboy said.

“Right.” Robin said, “But if we really are it… we’re not independants any more.”

“What are we then, the Young Justice League of America?” Superboy asked, trying the name out.

“Forget young, I checked, there’s no-one older than 17 around - if anyone’s young it’s the babies. Us? We’re practically middle-aged - hey maybe I’m gonna start balding, where do I find a good toupe?” Impulse asked, zipping around the roof, and Superboy was pretty sure he left Gotham entirely at one point, because there was suddenly sand in his hair.

“...Let’s forget names for now.” Robin said, shaking his head. “As long as there’s still a chance, we need to keep looking - but if this goes on for a week or longer… we’ve got bigger problems on our hands.”

“What kind?” Superboy asked, “Food?”

“Food’s a big one.” Robin nodded, “Long-term child care. Making sure nuclear power-plants don’t go ‘boom’. Medical care.” He counted off on his fingers. “Plus, if… if we’re on our own long enough...” He stopped and turned his head up to look at the sky. “...alien invasions aren’t that rare anymore.”

“...yeah.” Superboy nodded, “Yeah I get your point.” He walked in a little circle on the rooftop and kicked the ground. “Man, this stinks.” He shook his head, “This - isn’t there anything we could do with Bedlam?”

“Magic?” Impulse asked, “Isn’t what he did magic? So maybe if we find a wizard they could cast a spell on him, or wake him up or something, maybe make him a zombie, and if he’s a zombie we could get him to bring back all the grown-ups!”

“Why would a zombie want to bring back the adults?” Superboy asked sceptically.

“More human flesh!” Impulse hunched over, doing his best impression of a zombie. “Us kids don’t have enough meat on our bones for a zombie to get full on.”

“...right.” Superboy said, “Sure. Anyway, Rob, is there anything we could do?”

Robin rubbed his chin, “Impulse’s idea is worth a try, actually.”

“It is?” Impulse asked, surprised.

“Uh, Rob.” Superboy said, slowly walking closer to the Boy Wonder. “Are you… okay? Have you been getting enough sleep, eating enough?”

Robin - and here Superboy had to guess because he was wearing that mask - rolled his eyes. “I’m fine.” He said, “But I mean just the fact that we should try magic - none of the rest of… whatever it was that Impulse said.”

“Magic, huh?” Superboy asked, “Okay, do you know any magicians?”

Robin shook his head, “Nobody who’s still around, at least.” He clarified. “You?”

Superboy shrugged, “Nope. Imp?”

Impulse, who had been busy running around the rooftop in a figure-eight - or possibly an infinity symbol - looked up. “Huh?” He asked.

“Magic.” Robin said, “Do you know anyone our age who uses magic?” He asked.

“Oh. No.” Impulse shook his head and started zipping around again.

Robin sighed again - okay, when this was done Superboy was going to tell Batman, or… well, he’d tell Superman to tell Batman. Or he’d tell Dubilex to tell Superman to tell Batman, or something. Sighing that much was not normal, maybe it had to do with breathing Gotham’s air. It smelled nasty, that was for sure.

“Captain Marvel is magic, right?” Superboy asked. “Or his powers are, but I guess he’s not here…”

“Captain Marvel may not be here, but his family is.” Robin said consideringly. “They’re powered by magic though, I don’t know if they actually know magic. But it’s a place to start.”

“Isn’t Wonder Woman magic, too?” Impulse asked, “And her entire island? Or powered by Greek gods, at-least, maybe we could get a god to help us?”

“I don’t know about a god,” Robin began, “but she has an apprentice, Wonder Girl.”

“Yeah, I heard there was a new one.” Superboy said, nodding. “Do ya really think she can help?”

“Even if she can’t, we’d have to get her on-board with us eventually.”

“Right.” Superboy said, “Right. So, any plans on contacting these people?”

“You and Impulse are both fast-”

“But I’m faster!” Impulse cut-in.

“Right, so based on speed alone we would send Impulse to gather them all…” Robin said, then shook his head. “Superboy, fly out to Fawcett City to alert one of the Marvels, then find Wonder Girl. Tell them to meet us in Happy Harbor tomorrow at 6 AM.”

“Hey!” Impulse whined, “What about me?”

“Go to the Gotham main library and read their entire selection of Shakespeare.” Robin said, “Then get some rest before the meeting tomorrow.”

“Yessir!” Impulse saluted, then sped off. He quickly came back, “They have some that’s weird, Old English I guess? Should I-”

“Yes.” Robin said.

“Right!” Impulse saluted and sped off again, this time not immediately coming back.

“That’s one way of handlin’ him, I guess. Right, ” Superboy said, nodding, and flew off. Under normal circumstances he would’a argued with Rob, told him to stop bossing Superboy around, but he knew the score. Lettin’ Robin tell him what to do was worth it in the end, with all those people on the line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess I'm doing this. I have the entire fic written but plans for a sequel, so I'll post the chapters on a schedule and hopefully by the time the entire fic's posted I'll have the first part of the sequel ready.
> 
> The DC timeline can be very confusing, so let's say that Robin (Tim)'s 14, Superboy and Impulse's ages are nebulous as always, Wonder Girl's 14-15, and Steph's ~15. I know that Steph canonically had her baby after YJ started to be a thing (at least, going by that story in Book One where Secret was used as a mechanism to re-cap everyone's origin stories) so that's prob not gonna happen in this 'verse. The Gotham Earthquake timeline doesn't rly make much sense to me, there are references to it in YJ v1 but Cass doesn't exist yet? Was Gotham declared a No-Man's Land? I have no clue, so I'm gonna say 'no' - also, let's just say the year's ~2000. (I know it was '97 or '98 originally but at some point I wanna make a Phantom Menace Reference.)


	2. Chapter 2

“Impulse.” Tim nodded at the speedster as he ran in.

“Hey Rob!” Impulse said, “Did you know they’re serving soup out of the high school in town? I had three helpings, it’s pretty good, might have to go back later though, all this running around has been making really hungry, you know? I don’t know if they have bird seed for you, but I can ask if you want-”

“I was aware they had soup, and no I don’t want bird seed.” Tim said, crossing his arms as Impulse drooped. “...But thank you for the offer.”

“Sure!” Impulse said, immediately perking up. “No prob, Rob!”

“Rob!” Superboy called, flying in. “Impulse! Either we’re all here early, or I’m late.”

“We’re all early, thankfully.” Tim said tightly, “None of the others have arrived, but there’s still time. I have Bedlam-” he jerked his head, “in the conference room tied up.” Tim had actually arrived a full two hours early just-in-case. He’d used the extra time to nap - he wasn’t Bruce, he couldn’t handle a case like this on 20 minutes of sleep.

“So.” Superboy said, landing a few feet away from Tim and Impulse. “You both sleep alright?”

“Yeah, I slept like a baby.” Impulse said frankly, “I just layed down and was out, I didn’t need a glass of water, didn’t wake up in the middle of the night, nothing! It’s been like that for a while, maybe I’m coming down with something? Plague? Maybe I have cooties, but I don’t really understand what kind of disease cooties is, just that some of the little kids I’ve been helping gather up keep talking about it. Does cooties make you sleep really well? Maybe more people should get cooties, then.”

“I’ve been beat these past few days too.” Superboy said, decoding the meaning of Impulse’s words. Assuming that there was a meaning. Tim hoped there was, at least.

“Yeah, it’s been tiring, but it’s almost over.” Tim said in his most reassuring Robin-ish voice. Tim knew it was going to be fixed soon. He felt it, like a sixth sense - Batman told him to trust his instincts, verify them as soon as possible, but trust them. And his instincts were telling him that they were on the right track.

After that, Tim and Superboy fell into a comfortable silence. Impulse was, of-course, running around the mountain base like a manic 6-year-old and babbling all-the-while, but at this point Tim figured that that was par-for-course.

After about 10 minutes of waiting, Wonder Girl showed up. Huh, up-close that wig was really terrible, it hadn’t looked nearly as bad on the Bat-computer.

“Uh, hi?” She said, looking around. “I don’t think I’m late... Am I?”

“No, you’re early.” Tim said.

“Yeah, we were just here even earlier - earlierer? Earlierest? Rob was here first, though!” Impulse said, racing up to Wonder Girl, grabbing her hand, pumping it up and down really fast, then racing off again. “Oh!” Impulse said, doubling back. “Nice to meet you!”

“...Nice to meet you too?” Wonder Girl said, looking a little lost.

Tim rolled his shoulders back and stepped forward, “Hi, I’m Robin. Nice to meet you.” He stuck out his hand and smiled.

“Yeah, wish it could be under better circumstances though.” She said, obligingly shaking his hand. “I’ve kind-of been helping where I can, but it doesn’t feel like enough.” She shook her head and spoke again, more quietly this time, “And I miss my mom…”

“Is Wonder Woman your mom?” Impulse asked from… somewhere. Possibly the ceiling. “Because I kind-of assumed Wonder Woman didn’t like men? Not that she hates men, but that she, you-know, doesn’t like men-”

“Uh, wow.” Wonder Girl said, “I… Wonder Woman isn’t my mom? Why would you think that, it’s not like Flash is your dad.”

“He’s my grandpa actually!” Impulse said, then started vibrating. “Kinda? He’s my cousin, but my grandpa used to be Flash - but not the old guy who’s also Flash, a different Flash. Who’s sort-of dead but not?”

“...right. Yeah, I get it.” Wonder-Girl said, looking like she didn't. Tim didn't either, but at least he knew Impulse's family history. Kinda.

“5-to-6, the Marvels should be here soon.” Tim said.

“Thought they were supposed t’be punctual?” Superboy said, “They seem like big boy scouts - or girl scouts, in the case of Mary.” He leered when he said her name.

“If they’re late, it’s probably for good reason.” Tim said, putting his arms behind his back. “Fawcett City’s a little smaller than Gotham, if they’re held up by something it’s completely understandable.”

“Uh…” Superboy said, looking at Tim a little weirdly. “If Gotham’s that much trouble, no offense man, but why are you here?”

Tim shrugged, “In Gotham we’re used to taking care of ourselves.” And the gangs - especially the ones that were all-teen - were quickly seizing new territory and fighting each-other and themselves. So much for tragedy bringing people together. Not that Tim was going to talk about Gotham’s problems, Batman would freak if he did.

“Huh, guess you’d have t'be.” Superboy shrugged, “A’ight.” He nodded. Tim wasn’t sure why he was so… docile. Earlier he’d been sarcastic, quick to mouth off and express his opinion, and now he was almost deferring to Tim. Maybe he was feeling the stress of being ‘it’? Maybe he’d decided that Robin was their best chance of fixing this?

“They’re here!” Impulse said, running up and stopping for a second - and then running around them in circles.

“Good to know.” Tim said, looking up - and yep, there was CM3, and there was Mary Marvel.

“Aren’t there 3 more?” Impulse asked.

“Didn’t see any a’them when I was in Fawcett.” Superboy said, shrugging. “Rob?”

“No, there’s only the three. Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and CM3.”

“Huh, I was sure there were - oh, right, yeah, no never mind! There are only the three, yep!” Impulse said, that last part almost too fast to hear. Almost. Tim made a note to make a note about possible future Marvels.

“Hello.” Mary Marvel called, smiling tightly and landing a bit away from their group.

“Hi!” CM3 shouted, waving. “Sorry if we’re late, we had a bit of a problem with Dr. Sivana’s kids…”

“It’s fine, man. It happens.” Superboy said.

“You aren’t late.” Tim said, trying to sound reassuring and leader-like. “Let’s go, Bedlam’s in the other room.” Tim had been cordial with Wonder Girl because time allowed it, now that everyone was here, he didn’t have time to be polite.

“Hi, I’m Wonder Girl.” He heard Wonder Girl say behind him as he led the way.

“Pleasure to meet you.” That was Mary Marvel. Unless a third girl was hiding in Mount Justice. It was possible, but not very likely.

“Hi I’m Impulse, nice to meet you both!” Impulse said, modifying his running pattern on the fly so that he was running around the group as they moved. “Do you guys really get your power from lightning? Like Flash? Robin said you’re magic - Superboy did too, actually - is it magic lightning?”

“Yes.” Mary Marvel said simply. She sounded tired.

Tim saw a bit of white smoke out of the corner of his eye. He whipped his head to the side - but it was gone. Ok. He kept going towards Bedlam.

“So…” Superboy said, apparently not comfortable with silence now that there were other people here, “how are we gonna deal with this? You gonna… cast a spell?”

“I don’t know any spells,” Mary admitted, “Fr- sorry, CM3?”

“Nope.” CM3 - Freddy Freeman - said. “That’s not really how our powers work. I think… Uh, Wonder Girl?”

“That’s not how my powers work either.” She said, “But I could…” She paused, “I know where Wonder Woman keeps her spare lasso.”

“Wonder Woman has a spare lasso?” Superboy asked, voice cracking. “But - isn’t her lasso magic?”

“I dunno, I lose my costume all the time - I keep it on my finger so you’d think it’d be hard to lose it but it’s really easy - Max always bugs me about it, but we have a lot of spares, so I don’t really see the problem!” Impulse said. Tim could hear a faint jingle whenever Impulse slowed down enough to talk - he wasn’t going to look around to see -

“Meow!”

Tim turned around. And stared.

He could see that all the others were staring too, even the semi-subdued Superboy. Impulse was, for some reason, covered in cats. Tim counted at least 5.

“What?” Impulse asked. “Why are you all staring at me? Oh, is there something behind me -” He spun around really fast and all the cats scattered.

Tim waited a moment, then sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Bedlam is - here.” He said, getting everyone’s attention, and gestured at the League’s old conference table, where he’d trussed Bedlam up like a turkey.

“I thought he was in a coma?” Wonder Girl asked, hands on her hips. “Why did you... “ She stopped, and Tim let her think, mainly because he was trying to figure out why Impulse had been covered in cats. He knew by now that rational thought and Impulse didn’t go together, but seriously, what. “Oh.” She said, as-if she’d had a revelation. “Right, because he might be faking it, or because he could wake up. Sorry.” Tim saw a faint blush on her cheeks.

“No, it’s okay.” If Bedlam had actually been a run risk Tim wouldn’t have left him in this room alone - but he wasn’t. The main reason Tim had tied him up was for peace-of-mind. Theirs, not his. The fact that he tied him up a bit too well… catharsis.

“Right. So uh… I’ll start.” Freeman said, stepping up. “Hello? Bedlam?”

There was no response.

“...Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Solomon…” Freeman muttered. “Oh. Mary?”

“Yeah.” Mary said, nodding.

“Uh, could everyone cover their eyes? Sorry, but-”

Magic lightning. Tim held up his hand. “Do you know what will happen to Bedlam?”

Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel shrugged in unison. “No.” Freeman admitted, “But that’s all we got.”

“Right. Wonder Girl?” Tim asked, “Do you have anything before we… go into uncharted territory?” He was starting to talk like William Shatner, that probably wasn’t good.

“Uh… sorry, all I can think of is Wonder Woman’s spare lasso.” Wonder Girl admitted.

Tim nodded, “Right.” He turned around and closed his eyes, “I’m ready.”

He heard Superboy pick Impulse up. It was very loud.

“Hey! What are you - why are you - put me down! Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey-” Impulse said.

“Are you gonna look?” Superboy asked.

“Well, maybe a little-”

“Nope.”

“...is Superboy hugging - no, closing my eyes.” Wonder Girl said.

“...right. CM3?” Mary asked.

“Right.”

“On 3.” Mary said, and in unison

“1… 2...3... CAPTAIN MARVEL!” They shouted, and… nothing.

“What was that?” Impulse asked, “Let me down let me go, did it work let me see-”

“Uh…” Freeman said, sounding a bit embarrassed. “Sorry. We’re inside.”

“I thought your lightning was magic?” Superboy asked, eyes still screwed shut. “Is it really stopped by walls?”

“The walls of the cave were reinforced by Dr. Fate.” Came a metallic voice. Robin opened his eyes, and turned around, quickly crouching and whipping out a bird-a-rang.

“Who’s there!” Impulse yelled, vibrating himself out of Superboy’s grip. “Is it a robot? Is it Robotman- hey!” He said, slowing down. “It’s that statue!”

“My name” the not-statue said, “is Red Tornado.”

“...wait.” Robin said, looking closer.

Superboy interrupted him, “So it worked?” He asked excitedly, “The adults are back?”

“I do not believe so.” Was the response.

“But then - if the adults aren’t here, why are you here? Are you really a statue? Did magic lightning bring you to life, are you going to melt? Do we need to take you to the North Pole and sings at you, is Santa Claus going to save you with the magic of Chr-”

“No.” Red Tornado said, cutting through Impulse’s babble. “I am not an adult. Or rather, I am not a human adult.”

“If only humans were affected, why ain’t Superman here?” Superboy asked, “Or Martian Manhunter?”

“Yeah, or Aquaman?” Impulse asked.

“Aquaman is human, just from an aquatic subspecies.” Red Tornado said, “And, to be more specific, I am a non-organic adult.

Tim coughed. “You’re an android. Used to be part of the Justice League, right?”

“Correct, Robin.” Red Tornado said. “I sequestered myself here because I feared I was incapable of properly connecting with humanity and feeling emotion - however, watching you all has shown me that I was, perhaps, too hasty. In light of this, and because you clearly require assistance, I will tentatively retract my self-banishment.”

“What is this, a hallmark movie?” Superboy asked, “We made you realize you had emotions with the power of love?”

“No.” Red Tornado said, “You made me realize I had emotions with the power of sheer annoyance. You have my grudging gratitude.”

“Right.” Robin said, “Good. One adult down, 4.5 billion to go.”

“I believe the criteria for adult varies.” Red Tornado said, “Unless there has been a sudden decline in the animal population?”

“Nope!” Impulse confirmed, “Lots of animals everywhere! Saw a deer with really cool antlers, want me to find him and-”

“Right. So it’s not based on maturity.” Tim said, hand on his chin.

“Even if it was, none of you would have anything to worry about.” Tornado… sniped? Did they tick him off that much?

“I meant physical maturity.” Tim corrected.

“My point stands.” Tornado turned. “In any case, we should make our way outside if we wish to bring back the adult population in a timely manner.”

Tim nodded and made his way up to Red Tornado. “You’re right. Let’s go.” Tim noticed that Red Tornado was a step behind him - and Superboy next to Tornado. He knew Superboy seemed to have decided that Tim was the boss, but why was Tornado deferring to him? Unless… No.

No.

...no.

“We’re here.” Tim said.

“Right.” Captain Marvel Jr. said, “Where should I put Bedlam?”

Tim shrugged, “Anywhere.”

“Right.” Freeman set Bedlam down gently. Nice, he wasn’t acting spitefully, guess that whole thing about the Marvels being ‘pure good’ was true.

“Actually, CM3, we should hold Bedlam in front of us.” Mary said - Tim thought for a moment - Bromfield. That’s what the Bat-file said, at-least.

“Ok. On 3?” Freeman asked, lifting Bedlam back up.

“On 3.” Bromfield confirmed.

After the countdown, and all the other heroes present save for Tornado covered their eyes - even Impulse this time - the call of “CAPTAIN MARVEL!” resonated.

“...can we look?” Impulse asked.

“Mary?” Came a voice… a familiar voice, come-to-think-of-it. “Freddy? What’s - Robin, Superboy, Impulse? Where are Batman and Superman? Did it work?”

Tim turned around. “Billy.” He said, “You were with the adults?”

“Yeah.” Billy nodded, “After you all left I… I tried. And it worked… sort-of.”

Tim smiled, “I’m glad.” He looked around, “Where did you last see Batman - and the rest of the Justice League?” He asked.

Billy pointed at Mount Justice. “There.” He said, “In the conference room.”

“Impul-” Tim began, but didn’t even have to finish as Bart raced past him. And then immediately came back.

“Nope.” He said, “Nobody’s there.”

Tim bit back a curse. “Check the city-” Impulse was gone for a second, then back again.

“Nothing.” He shook his head.

“Check-”

Impulse ran off, and was gone for almost a full minute. Everyone waited in tense silence, and Tim realized that Superboy and Wonder Girl were still covering their eyes - that was considerate of them. He made a mental note to carry around spare domino masks.

“Nope.” Impulse said, returning. “No adults on the East Coast- but I did see something!”

“What was it?” Tim asked.

“Well…” Impulse said, “I saw a kid hugging an older kid - I asked what was up, and the older kid said he turned 18 yesterday, and the younger kid said her brother disappeared, but just showed up again.”

Tim sucked in a breath. “Right.” He said, thinking. “Right… right…”

“Oh.” Billy said quietly, “Oh no.”

Tim spun around, “What?” He asked, “Do you know something-”

“Yeah.” Billy said, voice small. “I… I have to…” He stood up and called out “SHAZAM!”

Everyone waited.

“Was that supposed to do something?” Superboy asked, eyes still closed.

“...no.” Billy said mournfully, “I guess it’s not.”

Bromfield and Freeman’s eyes were both wide. “Captain Marvel!” Freeman called out - and lo, lightning came down, and he was transformed.

“I - huh?” Bromfield asked, “Captain Marvel!” And then she was Mary Marvel again.

“Captain Marvel?” Billy tried, “...figures. Uh, guys?” He called out, “You two can look again… all the transformations that were gonna happen have happened.” He sounded disappointed, and Tim couldn’t blame him.

Superboy and Wonder Girl both opened their eyes.

“You’re that kid.” Superboy said, then stopped. “Wait, you’re Captain Marvel?”

Billy shrugged helplessly. “I was.” He said, and then made to take a step forward. Instead of walking forward, he started floating. “Oh.” He said, then concentrated. “Huh. Wisdom of Solomon… I guess I am Captain Marvel? But without the form change.”

“Okay.” Tim said, trying desperately to think without thinking - wow, that sounded like something Impulse would try to do. “Okay… right. So, Marvel.” All three Marvels looked up. “...Captain Marvel.”

Billy shrugged, “Guess that’s me.”

“What happened to all the adults?”

Billy’s face darkened. Shit. “I - I think they’re gone.”

“What? No, that’s - no!” Wonder Girl half-said, half-shouted. “No!”

“C’mon, they can’t just be gone…” Superboy said, and then muttered “without leaving bodies behind.”

“We - Bedlam had Captain Marvel, my other form, locked up.” Billy began, “Trapped in this force-field inside Mount Justice. The Justice League all went there, and Martian Manhunter connected all their minds to Captain Marvel’s mind, through me.”

“Weird.” Superboy said, “But ok. Then what?”

“...well, Batman said that, when we linked our minds, if we all… ‘applied our combined imagination’ to Captain Marvel’s dream, then we could fix things..” Billy said.

“I see.” Red Tornado said, “What happened next, Billy?”

“Yeah.” Freeman agreed, “It worked, right? You’re here, Bedlam’s…” He looked around, “Still unconscious, but also looks powerless. He’s holding a container full of something purple… where are all the adults?”

“Well… I… Batman said-” Billy began.

“There was a chance of failure.” Tim said, guessing based on context clues. “Wasn’t there?”

“...yeah.” Billy admitted, looking down. “Plasticman thought he was joking, but Green Lantern-”

“Batman doesn’t joke.” Tim said, knowing that was only a half-truth. Well, a 3-quarters truth.

Billy nodded, then sighed. “Either linking everyone up to Captain Marvel’s mind would bring everything back to normal, or… or everyone on the other side would cease to exist.”

“...But you’re here!” Wonder Girl said, “You were on the other side, and you’re here!”

“Yes.” Red Tornado said, “That is one argument. Another argument would be that, as Captain Marvel was the power source, and Captain Marvel is and was another facet of Billy Batson, the Captain’s power that was being manipulated was also Billy’s.”

“Oh.” Tim said, and then nodded, “And since the new reality was shaped by belief-”

“I don’t want to die.” Billy said, staring forward vacantly. “I- but- I don’t want anyone to die! I never did! I-”

“It’s not your fault!” Freeman said.

“Yeah Billy! I don’t - nobody blames you.” Bromfield added, hugging Billy tightly.

“Maybe he protected you.” Tim said, “Captain Marvel, I mean.” He continued when everyone, including Tornado, turned to stare at him. “He’s… he was you, but he also wasn’t, was he? You’re him, he’s you, but he was another side of you.”

“Yeah.” Billy said, “Yeah he was. He is.”

“So maybe he could only protect you.” Superboy inferred, “Or maybe he could only protect one person, and he chose you.”

“Or,” A new voice appeared seemingly out of nowhere, “perhaps I saved him.”

“Shazam?” Billy asked, surprised. 

“Yes - but not for long.” Came the voice - Shazam, apparently, which was also Billy’s power-up phrase? Not important.

“What? What’s wrong, is it the-”

“The Rock of Eternity is safe.” Shazam interrupted, “And you are as well. To keep things that way, I had to grant you the remainder of my power.”

Billy’s eyes widened, “What-”

“I’m fading.” Shazam said bluntly, “You are a child of pure heart, a champion of good - and a maker of champions. You will protect the Rock when I pass, won’t you?”

“I - yes!” Billy said, “Yes, of course!”

“Good. Billy… Your other form is gone now.” Shazam continued, “I confess, I do not know if it can be regained… you have all its power and more. I know you will use it wisely. I have no more time left.” And the voice ended, Shazam presumably… gone.

“Well.” Superboy said, grimacing. “Where does that leave us?”

Impulse, who had been uncharacteristically silent, said one word. But it was a heavy one. “‘It.’”

Oh no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, to clarify - the Gotham Quake's happened. No Man's Land didn't, and Luthor definitely wasn't president. Cass Cain isn't currently Batgirl, Kara's still en-route to Earth, Superman hasn't named Superboy yet. And also, I have no idea what's up with Bart's clone-twin-whatever Thad, and I don't even know if Match existed at this point. Oh, Damian Wayne definitely exists though, but none of the Bats (Tim and Steph, basically) know about him. :3c The DC timeline confuses me, so I'm just going to mention things in the notes that'll prob come up in the future (not in this fic, but y'know).  
> Also, if it isn't obvious, I know almost nothing about Mary Marvel/Mary Bromfield or CM3/Freddy Freeman. I'm including them mainly because they're the only magic-related teens I could think of who weren't Anita Fite or Zachary Zatara. Zat's probably not involved with superheroics at all right now (unless I'm wrong and he was canonically), and I can't think of a reason for Anita to show up rn, since in the comics was her dad who eventually introduced her to YJ, and he doesn't exist anymore.  
> One more thing; I wanted to have Tim think of people exclusively by their hero names - but neither CM3 nor Captain Marvel Jr. really roll of the tongue. So CM3 is kinda always 'Freeman'.


	3. Chapter 3

Bart wasn’t stupid - he wasn’t he wasn’t he wasn’t, definitely not stupid. And he didn’t have a short attention span either, he just thought so fast that everyone else was left behind!

That said, he had no idea how to deal with this. None, nada, zip. Nothing. Everyone 18 or older, gone. Forever, apparently. This wasn’t in the history lessons he got when he was being raised inside a video game! At least, he didn’t think it was - lessee: WWII and the first age of Superheroes; the Cold War; the second age of Superheroes that didn't really end; the end of the Cold War; the birth and rise of the internet; the Great Calamity; the rise of robotic aid in childcare, education, farming, and medicine that followed the Great Calamity… yep, nothing in there about all the grown-ups dying. Bummer.

Max was gone. Bart… didn’t want to think about that. So he didn’t - instead he ran up to Mexico and helped harvest some crop - he was pretty sure it was beans - he harvested a lot of beans. And some corn, and a bit of wheat. He’d been helping harvest a lot of things this past week. Harvesting, handing out pamphlets that Robin and Red Tornado made out, and just… helping people. There were a lot of people that need help, much more than usual. This was bad. Really bad.

Robin had said something about teaching Bart something. Bart didn’t remember what it was, exactly - he wasn't even sure if it had been a serious remark or some kind of joke, it had been in the immediate aftermath of the meeting at Mount Justice - maybe it would help. Bart finished what he was doing - what was he doing - he looked down and saw he was mixing together some kind of dough. Huh. He looked up and there was a tired-looking girl who was rolling some dough out into tortillas. Bart must’ve been running on auto-pilot.

“Uh. Sorry, gotta go.” He said.

She smiled and nodded. “Gracias - ah, thank you, for your help.”

“Sure! Any time!” He flashed her a grin and ran off - a quick stop in Happy Harbor first, because they gave him as much food as he needed and they had really good food - and then off to Gotham.

He knew that the rule was ‘no Metas in Gotham’ but… well, this was important, right? And Robin had had him and Superboy meet him in Gotham. Why did they meet in Gotham, actually? He could run anywhere, and Superboy could get anywhere too, just not as fast… Oh, right, Robin couldn’t. Or could he? Wasn’t there a Bat-airplane? A Bat-teleporter - there were League teleporters, Bart knew. Or did those come later? He never needed them, so it didn’t matter, but he was pretty sure there were League teleporters.

He was in Gotham - where was Robin? Impulse spotted someone jumping through the rooftops, so he ran up.

“Hey!” He called, “Rob!” He ran closer, “Robin, I need to - you’re not Robin!” Unless Robin had decided to start wearing a new costume - snazzy.

“Yeah, no duh speed boy.” The other person - girl, probably - said.

“Where’s Robin? I kinda need to talk to him, it’s important, well, sorta-important? I think it’s important, anyway, and I think he thinks it’s important because he said he was going to teach it to me, but maybe he thought I thought it would be important but doesn’t think it’s important himself?”

The girl stopped for a bit, and then shook her head. That happened a lot, Bart didn’t know why. “Robin’s sleeping right now.” She said.

“Really? It’s 6 AM, he was awake last week at 6.”

“Robin doesn’t have a set sleeping schedule.” She said, shrugging. “Not anymore, and I don’t know if he actually had one before.”

“Before what?” Impulse asked.

She tilted her head, and even though her face was covered he knew she’d scrunched up her face.

“Oh right, before. Before.” He waggled his fingers, “Beforrrrre.”

“...Yeah.” She nodded. “Before. So come back in like 5 hours, let him get some sleep.”

“5 hours?” Bart asked, thinking. “I can do a lot in 5 hours.”

“Then do it.” She said, “Because he finally agreed to take a break, and I don’t think he’s slept at all since you broke the news.”

“Right, right.” Bart said, nodding. They’d broken the news a day after they learned it - sort-of. There was a press conference - Billy Batson was there, and a guy named Jimmy Olsen, and a bunch of other 16- and 17- year-olds who Superboy said were probably interns. Superboy had been sadder than usual, and Impulse wasn’t sure why - maybe it was because all the grown-ups were gone. Yeah. Bart was sad too, but mostly because other people were sad.

Bart wasn’t going to think about Max.

He ran off - farming. More farming, since that was important. Eventually his running and helping brought him to Kansas - probably Kansas - where he helped a boy fix a tractor. The boy smiled and patted him on the back, which actually hurt a little - he looked closer and saw the boy had really toned arms.

“Wow, do you work out or something?”

“Ha ha, sort-of?” The boy tilted his head back and stretched, smiling. “I’ve been helpin’ my parents on the farm since I was little, guess that gave me muscles.”

“So you know all about running a farm?” Impulse asked.

The boy nodded, “Pretty much. What Pa and Ma didn’t teach me, old Mr. Kent did - he’s great. And Mrs. Kent always made the best pies.” His smile turned melancholy - Bart hadn’t really known the meaning of that word before… Before.

Don’t think about Max.

“What’s your name?” Bart asked, zipping around - oh, there was a cat, nice - back to the guy before he finished talking.

“John Valentine.” The kid offered, holding out his hand.

“Impulse.” Bart said, shaking it.

“I’ve got a little cousin who’s livin’ with me now.” John said, still talking for some reason. Bart wasn’t about to stop him, he didn’t mind.

“Oh yeah?” Bart asked.

“Yeah, Simon’s parents are gone - like mine and everyone else’s. Guess we’re lucky.” John said, getting up into his tractor. “He’s got me to look out for him, and I still have some family.”

“Yeah.” Bart said, nodding. “Lucky.”

Don’t think about Max. Don’t think about Wally. Don’t think.

“I gotta go.” Bart said.

“Yeah, figured.” John said, “I gotta get back to work, anyhow. Stay safe, alright?”

“Right! You too, goodbye!” Impulse called, zipping off.

Right, right, where to go where to go… Happy Harbor? Happy Harbor. Bart went to Happy Harbor, and zoned in on Mount Justice.

“Red!” Bart called out, “How you doing?”

Red Tornado looked up - he’d been talkin’ with - a big grey guy with horns? “Who’s this - who’re you - hi nice to meet you I’m Impulse - wait.” Bart stopped, and looked closer, “Are you an adult?”

The guy - guy? Possibly a guy. They started talking, anyway, so Bart slowed down.

“I am Dubilex.” The person said, “I am a D.N.Alien, and Superboy’s caretaker. Technically, I am 9 years old.”

“Oh, nice!” Bart said, nodding. “Cool!”

“Indeed.”

“You know, I’ve heard of D.N.Aliens…” Bart said, rubbing his chin and zipping back and forth between Red Tornado and Dubilex. “Don’t you guys have a cereal endorsement?”

“I think you have us confused with someone else.” Dubilex said, shaking his head.

“Dubilex is here to discuss Superboy’s well-being.” Red said, moving past Bart. “Impulse, may I ask why you are here?”

Bart looked away and kicked at the ground. “...I really don’t want to talk about it.” Oh, that was probably too fast for everyone who wasn’t a speedster-

“I see.” Red Tornado said. Huh, maybe it wasn’t? “Well, while you are in Happy Harbor, there has been a slight… disturbance at an archaeological dig site.”

“Oh yeah?” Bart asked, “On my way!” He saluted, and then sped off.

“How does he know where the dig site is?” Dubilex asked.

“He doesn’t.”

Bart zipped back in, “Oh, Red, where’s the dig site?”

Red Tornado sighed. Huh, Bart didn’t know that androids could do that.

-

Impulse zoomed up to the hole - it was more of a massive crater, really - and saw a kid there. Just one kid? “Hey, you doing okay?” He called.

The kid looked up, “Yeah.”

Bart wasn’t convinced. “Are you sure? Because you look kinda -” sad? Broken? Like pretty much everyone looked, these days? “- like you could use a good meal. They’re giving out free meals at the school, you know - the elementary school. Dunno about the high school.”

“Okay.” The kid said, staring at the crater. “Sure. Thanks.”

“Hey.” Bart said, running up and standing next to him. “What’s your name?”

“Bernard.” Bernard said, “Sorry I’m not - usually like this.” He sighed and turned around. “My mom was supposed to be working on this dig.”

Oh, right. Uh. “Right.” Bart said, nodding. “Well… you’re here, right? Do you know how to, uh, do archaeology?”

Bernard snorted, “Not really.” He said, shrugging. “Maybe the basics, but I wasn’t that interested in my mom’s job.” He started blinking a lot, “I wish I had been.”

Bart patted him on the shoulder, and the guy engulfed him in a half-hug. Bart patted him on the back. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s, uh, it’s going to be okay.” Bart said, trying to soothe him.

“Is it?” Bernard asked, “Is it really?”

“Yeah.” Bart said, nodding. “It really is.”

They stood there for a while, until they heard a cough.

Bernard and Impulse both looked up - to see another guy?

“Bernard!” The guy called, “Are you okay?”

“Tim?” Bernard asked, surprised. “Why are you - what are you doing here?”

“I was in town on… business.” Tim says, “I was passing by and saw you, I figured I’d check on you. I thought you were in Gotham.”

Bernard shrugs, “I was… it’s… yeah.”

“Yeah.” Tim says. “So what’s this?” He looks around, “Is this… archaeological equipment?”

“My mom was supposed to be working at this site.” Bernard said, sighing.

Tim winced, then brightened. “You know… I didn’t always pay attention to what my parents did, but they did bring me along to one or two digs.”

“Your parents were archaeologists?” Bernard asked, surprised.

“Well.” Tim winced and shrugged, “They kind-of were? They ran a business and did archaeology at the same time?”

“Ok.” Bernard said, and shrugged. “Are you going to help-”

“If you want.” Tim says, “My business here resolved itself, so I’m all yours.”

“Thanks, man.” Bernard said. Then he turned to Bart, “Thank you, too. I needed to hear that.”

“Sure!” Bart said, grinning. “Gotta go now, have fun!” Bart ran, because he suddenly remembered something important. He had friends of his own.

Don’t think about Max.

Robin, Superboy, now Wonder Girl - out of the corner of his eye he saw some white smoke, weird - Red Tornado… that girl who used a bow, Arrowette maybe? But another one, too.

“Bart?” Came her voice, sounding surprised. “Where have you been?”

“Hi Carol.” Bart says, slowing down. “Sorry - I’ve been everywhere, everyone needed me, I just kind-of… forgot to come back?”

Carol sighs, “I can’t blame you for that.” She probably thought that Bart hadn’t really forgotten - which was kind-of true, Bart hadn’t wanted to come back - but he forgot that there was still a good reason to come back.

“So, how have you been?” He asks.

“How do you think?” Carol says, and then hugs him.

He’d told Bernard that it was going to be okay… and now he believed it. Well, a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I was going to post these on a schedule (on sundays) and then I just... forgot to. XD I plan on having the first part of the sequel finished and posted by sunday, at least!  
> So yeah, that's Young, Just Us. I didn't start out intending to have Kon, Tim, and Bart all have separate POV chapters, that's just how it turned out. Apologies if Bart's POV is confusing, I tried to sort-of simulate how I think he thinks. I think.  
> Also, when Tim showed up in Happy Harbor, he may or may not have actually been sleeping like he told Steph. He hasn't had... pretty much any of the losses or trauma he had in canon, up to this point he only had his mom die and his dad be in a coma for a while... and now, suddenly, all the adults in his life are gone. His dad, Bruce, Dick, Alfred. And he probably blames himself, at least a little. So no sleep for him.  
> SO: No Mighty Endowed :( And since Tim is there, when they uncover the Super Cycle no Mighty Bedowed or something like that, he'll hold Bernard back. The fight with Rip Roar goes p much like it did in the comic, except no Fight'n'Mad and no... pastiche of Ben Stein? So yeah, Super cycle obtained off-screen.


End file.
